Jus Primae Noctis
by ChayaLekhaka
Summary: When Leena Tailor's village stones her for her pregnancy, she escapes to Sherwood forest, and  joins the gang. But when a plan to stop a Black Knight ends in a face to face encounter with the man who hurt her, will her new life fall to pieces? Allan/OC
1. Prologue

**Okay, y'all. This is my first fanfiction, and I'm not sure I'm content with the quality so far, but I will do my best. I think this is going to be about 8 chapters long, plus this prologue and an epilogue. I welcome both praise and critisim, so you have no excuse not to review!**

**Also, I have taken liberties with the placement of Wilthrope. It is a real town in Yorkshire, but I don't know if it existed at this time or about it's proximity to Sherwood.**

**And I wasn't sure about the rating, but there will be mention of unconsensual sex and some violence. I don't think anything too graphic though.**

Prologue

The setting sun lit the green of Wilthrope village as it sank low on the horizon. At the center of the square, a girl with a slightly swollen belly stood tied to a post, her eyes shut tightly. A crowd surrounded her, dressed as she was in peasants' clothing, both men and women armed with rocks and fury. The sunset sent shadows across their faces, and the effect was frightful – vicious eyes glinting out of the darkness. Their enmity could be heard, as well; jeers and cruel taunts filled the air. These people were ready. When signaled, they would bring death to this immoral girl, this parasite on their community. They would do it gladly, with no reservations in their hearts.

A man stepped forward, and the jeering of the crowd died to a malicious murmur. Though he was dressed as roughly as the others, the man carried an air of natural authority about him; he was their clearly their leader. When he spoke, even the murmur died, and the people listened to his words attentively.

"Before you stands a girl who has turned from God and sided with the Devil. She is, as you all can see, with child, though yet unmarried, and not intended. In her dwells wickedness, corruption, and sin. This wickedness, this depravity must not be tolerated. She will spread her wantonness to your daughters and sisters. Her sin and corruption will be our down fall. We must prove before the Lord that we will not allow the Devil to live among us! We must rid the village of this slattern, and free ourselves from sin!"

The villagers shouted their approval, every word having been drunken in and accepted. As their attention turned back towards their victim, the man strode towards a pile of rocks that had been collected earlier, and picked up a stone. The crowd cheered him on, eager to begin the cleansing. He hurled the rock at the girl, striking the side of her face. The others followed in suit, their stones flying along with their insults. But before execution was finished, or even nearly so, a call of a different nature sounded out above the abuse and taunting.

"Fire! Fire at the Weavers' house!" The warning came from a teenaged boy, who stood panting, stooped over with his hands on his knees. The people were torn – they must rid their village of the girl, but fire was a very dangerous thing. If left unchecked, it would spread throughout the entire village. Their own houses could be in danger. Any of them could be the ones left homeless and destitute, but they wanted the be rid to the sin. They looked towards their leader for direction.

"We will tend to the fire. This harlot can be dealt with later." His words decided matters. The crowd rushed to gather buckets and shovels, anything to prevent the fire from spreading. The girl was left, forgotten for a time in the panic.

* * *

Leena rested her head against the pole she was tied to, blood dripping down her face. Her eyes were closed, and she appeared tranquil, but despite her numerous wounds, she was working franticly to escape. She had to get her hands untied before the villagers returned. If she didn't, she would be killed. The people were crazed with fear and the words of Matthew Harper, the man who led them.

Tears pooled behind her shut eyelids at the thought of her executioners. These were the people she had grown up. They were her neighbors, and some her friends, and they had turned against her for a crime she had not committed, condemning though the evidence was. But she could not fault them too much. She had not told them what had truly happened, but merely denied the accusations, and asked that they believe her with no story to prove her guiltless. But still, that they would allow the words of Matthew Harper to reach into the hearts so, and poison them against her! She was not sure that his arrival in the village shortly after the incident was entirely a coincidence.

But now her hands were free, and she pulled away from the post. Glancing back over her shoulder, wary that someone might check on her even in the midst of the pandemonium, she ran, stumbling, to the safety of Sherwood forest.

The safety of the forest. The idea was laughable. To be safe, here! Amidst the wild beasts and bandits! Already she was uncertain of her bearings, the tall trees and wild undergrowth unfamiliar to her. She had never entered the forest. She had never had a need. This was something entirely unknown to her.

But so was the hatred of her neighbors, and besides, she was armed. Two knives were hidden beneath her skirts, a precaution she had taken when the words of Matthew Harper had begun to take hold. She was confident in her ability to protect herself, from wild animals at least. The outlaws she was less sure of, but then, it was Robin Hood who was said to live in these woods.

Robin Hood. The champion of the poor, protector of the weak, former Lord of Locksley and Earl of Huntington. If she were to meet him, she would be safe. But then she laughed to herself. If she was to meet outlaws here, she would expect the worse – after all, Robin Hood was likely not the only one to wonder this forest. Others might too. Perhaps she had made a mistake doing this. It was quite possible that the outlaws she might meet would be far less inclined to care about innocence than the notorious Robin Hood.

But the people back home hadn't cared about innocence either, and she was better off risking bandits and bears than the stoning her neighbors intended for her. Death there was certain. Death here was only probable. The difference was infinite.

The difference was her life.

And so she ran on, through the woods, farther and farther, through the darkness. The sun was completely set now, and the trees blotted out the meager light of the stars. But she ran on, ignoring the pain from the injuries the villagers' stones had left, pushing past it, eager to distance herself from the ones who had wronged her.

She would have done better listen to the warning of her body. As the moon rose, she collapsed.

**So, I've got my fingers crossed and hope you like it! **

**Review please!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Here's the next chapter my lovelies! I'm posting at what is a rather late hour for me, so just point out any errors and I will fix them!**

**Disclaimer: These things are termed fanfictions for a reason people. If I owned any of the BBC Robin Hood characters, I would not be writing this.**

Chapter 1

Allan a 'Dale ran quietly through the woods. Speed was of no importance now—silence was what was needed to hunt. He carried his longbow in his hand, keeping his eyes out for anything that might have enough meat on it to feed five men and Djaq. The squirrel Much kept serving them was getting a bit old, and Allan had told him so before generously volunteering to get something more suitable for the outlaws to eat.

Well, if the truth be told, Allan had never volunteered to do anything in his life. Robin had ordered him to. Apparently, he had found Allan's mockery of Much to be disagreeable, or at least boring. But Allan really didn't mind being sent to hunt, though he would never admit it. Even though he loved and respected the gang, he enjoyed the freedom of running through the forest on his own, without the others and without Robin's orders. He was flying freely past the trees, uninhibited by the constrictions that came with his new life. The Allan a 'Dale he had been before was his own man, but now he was tied to a cause and tied to the outlaws.

But nevertheless, he knew if he could go back and avoid the whole business, if he could simply have lost his hand and gone on his way, he wouldn't. He was fighting for something now. He was worth something.

Suddenly, the gleam of something scarlet caught his eye from behind a tangle of undergrowth. He halted and went to investigate it. As he pulled back the snarled branches of the bushes, his eyes widened. A girl lay curled beneath them. Her dark hair was knotted with twigs, and her face and arms were covered in bruises and cuts. It looked as though the rest of her had suffered the same abuse. Sweeping his eyes over her body, he saw what had first caught his attention – blood. Her blood had stained the dirt underneath her, but though he looked, he could see no injury.

He had to get her back to the camp; Djaq would know what was wrong and how to help her. Swiftly, he unstrung his bow and put it in with the arrows in his quiver. He then gathered the girl into his arms, treating her injuries as gingerly as he could, and set off at a rapid run towards the camp. All thoughts of the hunt were forgotten; they would have to survive one more dinner of squirrel after all.

As he neared the camp, he could hear Robin's boisterous laughter, and a "But master—" coming from Much, but he didn't have time to finish his complaint. The entire camp grew silent as Allan entered the clearing.

"Who's she?" Will questioned, concern reflected in his dark eyes as he looked up from his whittling.

"I dunno, do I?" Allan retorted. "I found 'er under a bush. There was a lot of blood, but I couldn' find the wound. Figured Djaq ought t' take a look at 'er," and he turned to the Saracen woman. She nodded.

"Bring her into camp," she ordered. "I will examine her." Allan followed her towards the bunks while worriedly looking down at the young woman he carried in his arms. Even with her face black and blue from bruising, he could tell she was lovely. Her delicate nose and pink mouth the shape of Robin's bow were classically beautiful while her thick dark hair and large, somewhat slanted eyes lent an exotic air to her beauty. As he laid her down on his bunk, he wonder what color her eyes were beneath their shut lids. Green, perhaps. Maybe brown. he looked to Djaq, wondering why she had yet to start her inspection. She smiled at him wryly.

"Allan, while we all know you would enjoy it immensely, I cannot allow you what while I examine her." Allan let out a short bark of laughter, and shot Djaq a wink.

"That's t' bad, love. I'd 'ave enjoyed it for sure." But as he left the sleeping quarters, he found himself wondering not what Djaq's examination would have showed him, but what color her eyes were.

He went back to the others, and they looked at him expectantly.

"I don' think it's that serious. Djaq didn' look too worried, and her heart beat and breathin' was steady an' all that while I was carryin' 'er. She'll probably be fine." Robin nodded, and he and Much returned to their argument. Little John was watching the fire, brooding to himself, as was his way. Allan lay down on his elbows a little ways away. Will come over and sat beside him with his back towards the others, his arms resting on his knees.

"Where'd you find her?" he asked in response to Allan's raised eyebrow.

"Kinda near the edge on the York side. I reckon she came from one of the villages thereabouts."

Everyone continued their various conversation for a while, until Djaq came back out a little later, and the chattering ceased. There was a small crease between her eyebrows, and her lips were pressed together in a thin line. She looked towards Allan gravely.

"She is in no danger. I think that it was mostly exhaustion. She will be fine." Everyone relaxed, but Djaq did not. "There is more. She was pregnant."

A hush fell over the camp; it seemed like they all stopped breathing. Finally, Allan asked, "Was?"

Djaq nodded. "She miscarried. That was the blood you saw." The silence grew oppressive. Allan hated silence. It came and wrapped itself around you, smothering you with all it didn't say. It meant something serious was happening, and Allan didn't handle seriousness well. He was a jokester, a trickster and a thief. He preferred to stay on the shallower end of these things. The deeper you get, the more easily you drown. That was something Allan had learned early in life. He truly hated silence. It was so empty; he always felt the need to fill it with his jokes and sarcasm. So he did.

"Well, that ought t' be an interestin' story, eh?"

"Allan!" Robin snapped. "This could be serious."

Allan rolled his eyes. "Look, Djaq said she's gonna be fine, right. What's the point in worryin' about a question we can' answer? Just wait till she wakes up, an' we can find out then."

"Allan's right. "Will said quietly. "We'll find out what happened when she's awake." Eventually, the camp lapsed back into the casual banter of life in the forest. But Allan, for his hatred of silence, still did not speak.

He watched with somber eyes as Djaq and Robin went to check on the girl. When he turned back, Will was watching him in his quiet, understanding way. Allan felt that Will knew a secret, and Allan wasn't even sure he had one yet.

* * *

Leena awake to a scruffy face with a dimpled chin and floppy brown hair floating above her. Quick as a serpent's strike, one of her knives was at his throat. The man hastily threw up his hands, backing away slowly.

"Easy there, tiger. I'm not going to hurt you."

"Who are you?" Her voice came out low, her knife never wavering.

"I am Robin Hood," he said proudly, and then gestured to a small Saracen woman by his side, who Leena had previously overlooked, "and this is Djaq. She took care of you."

"I do not need to be taken care of," Leena said, but as she lowered knife, her mind was spinning. Robin Hood. This was Robin Hood! The hero! The legend. And here he was talking to her! But she now sounded like an overly enthusiastic child. She knew better. Never take anything at face value; she must always be careful. "Are you really Robin Hood?" she questioned, her eyes narrowing. She must be cautious. The true Robin Hood would never hurt her, but if someone else was claiming his name, they would have no qualms about it.

She watched with irritation as he threw back is head in a hearty laugh. "Yes, that I am. I swear it to you."

She still eyed him with distrust. "Prove it."

He pulled a tag with some sort of symbol on it from beneath his collar and held it out as though it was identification.

She raised an eyebrow. "That means nothing to me. The legendary skill of Robin Hood's aim has traveled far and wide. Make an impossible shot."

The man who claimed to be Robin shrugged and turned towards the Saracen woman. "Djaq, can she walk now?" Leena gritted her teeth with frustration as the woman looked her over, but the eyes that met hers were gentle and caring.

"I think she will be fine if she takes care."

Robin nodded. "Alright then. Come. I will prove to you that I am Robin Hood," and he strode from the sleeping quarters, grabbing his recurve bow and a quiver of arrows. With Djaq's help, Leena trailed behind.

Her eyes followed him as he strode through the camp. The others also watched him, waiting for a signal or call – the command he had over these men was evident. She was reminded of Matthew Harper, who lead the people of her village with his sugary lies. And yet, though these men followed the man who said he was Robin Hood, it did not seem to be because of the same type of spell that Matthew Harper had had on the villagers. They watched this man with respect and admiration and love. They did not follow him merely because he was a leader. They followed him because he was their leader, and they loved him.

"What's going on, Robin?" a young, dark haired man questioned from his seat on the ground. Beside him lounged a rather attractive man with blue eyed. Farther away, by a small fire were a very large man and a smaller one whose red-blond hair was covered with a cloth.

Her eyes turned back to Robin replied to the questioner. "This young woman demands proof that I am Robin Hood. She doesn't recognize the tag, but she's heard of the 'legendary skills of Robin Hood's aim,' and wants a demonstration."

The blue eyed man let out a laugh. "You know you jus' wan' a chance to show off, Robin. Don' deny it." He sent a wink towards Leena, and she felt a gentle blush heat her cheeks. He was very striking for a man who lived in a forest. "Never misses a chance to flaunt his skills, this one. Full of 'ot air, 'e is. I'm Allan," he mentioned as an afterthought. "I'm the one tha' found you."

She hadn't even thought about that. "How did you find me? How did I get here?"

Robin answered her. "We can ask questions later. In fact, we have a few for you, also, but don't you want proof that I am Robin Hood first?"

Allan settled back on his elbows and muttered, "I told you so," and he and Leena shared a grin.

"Name your target, miss. Make sure you make it worthy of the notorious Robin Hood," Robin insisted. Allan rolled his eyes while Leena looked around. Her eyes lit upon the numerous twigs on the surrounding trees. She strode over to one and broke it off. As the gang's eyes watched her, she tore a strip from her raggedy hem and unraveled a thread. She used it to tie the twig in a small circle. She then wrapped the remainder of the cloth around the frame, pulled it taut, and tied it off, and then handed it to Robin. He eyed it curiously.

"What am I to do with that?"

In reply, she tossed it into the air. "Shoot it," she ordered as she caught it again.

Robin took it from her with a daring gleam in his eyes, and then strung his bow and set an arrow to it. He tossed the target into the air, and swiftly took aim and fired. Leena went to where the arrow had fallen. The target was skewered neatly through the center, and as she turned it over in her hands, her gaze returned to the archer.

"Alright," she said. "I believe you now."

"I told you, miss. I am Robin Hood," he declared with a playful wink. "And, now," he said, going to sit by the red haired man, "I believe it is time for introductions." Leena turned towards the man called Allan. She felt most secure with him, other than Robin. This man claimed to have found her, although she didn't quite know what had happened. And she found something in his grey-blue eyes that made her feel safe.

She sat on the ground next to him. "I guess I should start, then," she said, wrapping her arms around her knees. "I'm Leena. I come from Wilthrope, in Yorkshire."

The man on the other side of Allan spoke next. "I'm Will," he said quietly, and she saw compassion in his eyes. The Saracen woman settle beside him, their shoulders gently touching. "I am Djaq," she said, "as Robin told you earlier." Leena nodded, while eying them carefully. She saw thought she saw something between them, but she was unsure.

"I'm John," came a gruff voice from by the fire, and she turned to see the giant looking at her. She gave him a small smile, and got a flash of white teeth from behind his dark beard in return. Then she turned to the man whose head was covered.

"I am Much and this is my master, Robin. But you already knew that, I guess," he babbled, and her smile widened at his talkativeness. He saw her amusement and squared his shoulders indignantly. "The real question, young lady, is what you are doing here?"

At his words, her pleasure vanished. "Could you tell me what you know first? How you found me and what happened?" Much opened his mouth again, she assumed to protest, but Allan cut him off.

"I found you behind a bush in the forest. You were unconscious, and there was a lot o' blood. A lot more than there should 'ave been. I brought you back 'ere as quick as I could, an' Djaq took a look at you."

Leena turned towards the physician. "You were not badly hurt," Djaq said. "There are some cuts, and a lot of bruising, but I think you just collapsed from exhaustion, for the most part. But when you did so," and here she refused to meet Leena's eyes, "I fear you lost the baby."

Leena's hands flew to her stomach. "I lost the—" her voice broke off as Djaq nodded sadly. Trembling, she wrapped her arms around her middle, her entire face straining with the effort to keep back tears. Blurrily, through the corner of her eye, she saw Allan reach out as though to touch her shoulder, but he withdrew his hand before he made contact. As she struggled to get her breathing under control, her tears cleared. Finally, she looked around at the others. "I guess you'd like the story now." Though no one answered, she saw frank interest in many faces. Taking a deep breath, she began.

**So yeah. I guess that's a little cliff hanger there for y'all. I have a rather busy week next, but I will post as soon as I can, and then - SPRING BREAK! A dear friend of mine and I are going to the beach and it's going to be a blast!**

**And I kind of stole the target thing from Annie Oakley and her shooting a dime in the air. I was getting tired of hearing about Robin hitting a far away tree.**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Oh my god, y'all. I am so, so. SO sorry. There are no excuses. The only thing I can say is that more reviews would have motivated me... but there are no excuses. I will begin working on the next chapter momentarily. Please enjoy this long over due chapter.**

Chapter 2

"_I guess you'd like the story now." Though no one answered, she saw frank interest in many faces. Taking a deep breath, she began._

"As I said, I come from Wilthrope in Yorkshire. My mother died birthing me, and my father died from bronchitis four years ago, when I was twelve. He was mostly just tired, I think. Tired of working, tired of living without my mum. He just gave up.

"So I've been living by myself since then, doing the best I can. Everything was alright until a few months ago. The sheriff of our shire was lenient; if I couldn't pay my taxes, he would leave me till I could. He'd known my mother, you see. She grew up on his lands before she married my father. But the Lord of York came himself to collect the taxes once, and I couldn't pay. But he didn't arrest me. He wanted something else.

"He wanted to exercise his _jus primae noctis_. The lord's right to the first night." She paused, bowing her head with the shame of it. Beside her, she heard Allan's sharp intake of breath.

"He wanted your maidenhood." She nodded, hot tears welling up in her steel grey eyes.

"Yes. And to refuse a lord… well, it's not done. I wanted to fight him, but what could I do against him, really?

"So after that night, I went back to my village. I didn't tell anyone what had happened; it's not a costume practiced much anymore, and they wouldn't have understood what it was. It would just have brought shame to me. A few weeks later, a man named Matthew Harper came to town. He was charismatic, a born leader it seemed. I don't know where he came from. But by that time, I had more important things on my mind." Her arms moved to shield her now lifeless belly.

"I had just realized I was pregnant, and I was doing my best to hid it. Like I said, people don't understand. Rape is when you have been beaten bloody, and even then it is shameful. To be with child out of wedlock, unable to identify a father, and without any physical evidence of being forced – I feared the worst. I couldn't tell them that it was the lord. They would have thought I was giving myself airs and trying to save myself by naming a father they couldn't verify.

"I started making plans to leave, but I began to show earlier than I had planned, and of course they noticed. Under normal conditions, I would have been banished from the village, but Matthew Harper intervened with his poisonous tongue.

"He convinced them that they needed to purify their village of my sins, or they would all be condemned to hell along with me. He convinced them to execute me. They had just begun stoning me when there was a fire. I managed to escape and ran into Sherwood. Eventually, I guess I collapsed, and that's when Allan found me."

The camp was once again silent when she had finished her story. Much was the first to break it.

"That's… that's… that's horrible!" he cried. "They were going to stone you? For something out of your control?"

"I told you, they didn't see it that way. They only saw a young woman with no family pregnant out of wedlock. They saw a threat to their eternal souls," she explained, with a note of bitterness in the last line. Allan spoke next.

"So, wha' do you plan t' do now?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know. I really hadn't gotten past the part where I was running for my life before I passed out." That earned a small chuckle. She watched as Robin shared a look with the others. She couldn't read what was said in their gazes. Finally, Robin turned to her.

"You were very quick with that knife when you woke up. Can you fight with it?" She nodded. "Can you use any other weapons?"

"I'm decent with a bow," she replied, merriment dancing on her face, "though I would never dream of trying to rival the famous Robin Hood." He grinned his appreciation of her flattery.

"I cannot speak for everyone, but if you are interested and willing to undergo a trial of arms, I am willing to accepted you into the gang." This declaration was followed by a chorus of "Me too," from the rest of the gang.

"I would be honored," Leena said, "though I am not sure how I would handle a trial in my present condition."

"That's alright," said Robin with a wink. "I'll go easy on you. I'll be fighting with a sword because that's what the guards use. I'm sure you have almost no experience fighting a sword, but just do your best, yeah?" She nodded moved towards the center of camp while Robin fetched his sword.

"Good luck t' you," Allan said, cheerfully from his seat on the ground. When Robin returned with his Saracen sword, she reached her hands into the slits she had made in her skirt for easy access to the knives belted to her thighs.

"Are you ready?" Robin questioned, and when she nodded, he came at her with an over-handed attack. Quick as lightning, her knives were crossed in front of her, blocking his blade. With one knife she pushed aside his sword while at the same time driving the other one towards his stomach. He dodged with a spin that freed his sword and came back at her in another attack which she parried again, and returned with a counter-attack. They continued this way, with Leena matching Robin blow for blow for some time, but eventually, Leena began to tire. Though she had slept a long while, she was physically and emotionally exhausted, not to mention still not fully healed. Her fatigue was her down fall; Robin's blade came at her and her block went astray. With Robin's sword at her throat, she dropped her knives. Robin also lowered his blade.

"Very good, Leena! Very good indeed! Were it not for your wounds, I think you might have bested me."

"We will see, Robin. We will see."

"Yes, I guess we will. But first," and he elegantly gestured towards Allan's longbow, "shall we see your archery work, my lady? I assume you are not familiar to my Saracen bow."

"That I am not," she said as she walked towards the bow, "and there's no need to mock me. I am no lady." But she added quietly under her breath, "I'm just a lord's whore." Allan's head jerked up towards her, and she could read the question in his eyes, asking if she had actually said what he thought he had heard. She returned his questioning look with one of her own, as though she had said nothing. With a shrug, Allan handed over the bow, and she returned to Robin.

"Name your target, mister. And make sure you make it worthy of someone in the gang of the notorious Robin Hood," she demanded with a smirk, and he grinned back, recognizing the play on his earlier words. She watched as he scanned the forest and pointed to a tree with a knot some forty paces away.

"Aim for the knot. Just do your best." Leena took a deep breath and set her feet, and rolled her shoulders, drew back her bow, and closed one eye to take aim. Another deep breath and she loosed the arrow. It raced through the air and hit the knot near the edge. She drew back another arrow, and let fly. That one hit just outside the knot.

"Last shot," Robin said as he handed her another arrow. With another deep breath, she released it. It flew towards the tree and landed in the knot, almost dead center.

She heard a low whistle from Allan. "Tha' was amazin'. Difficult shot, tha'."

"Thanks, Allan," she said, her face lit with pride. Robin jumped up on a low hanging tree limb and swung his feet around, resting his chin on his hands and his elbows on his knees.

"So lads, Djaq. What do you think?"

"She's got my vote, tha's for sure." Leena sent a grateful smile towards Allan.

"Mine, too," said Will, and Djaq from her seat beside him echoed, "And mine as well."

Leena turned towards the fire where the other too sat. John nodded his head. "Aye. Her, I like." All eyes were then directed at Much.

"Well I just… fine. She can stay. But I expect some help with the cooking now! You do know how to cook, right?"

Leena giggled. "Much, I've lived on my own for the past four years. I'd think I would have learned to cook by now, wouldn't you?" Much blushed a little and began stammering. "Don't worry. I'd be happy to help you."

**Again I apologize. I also ask for reviews, even though I have no right.**


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